The Icy Explosion

This is Strokkur, the biggest geyser in Iceland and the second biggest in the world. It can shoot twice as high as Old Faithful in the states, and it blasted off about every 5-6 mins or so... which seems like a VERY long time while standing around in the wintery mix of the frozen tundra. It was already fairly cold there, but all the moisture in the air made it a "wet cold", which is a whole new level of cold.

Sometimes I am jealous of tourists. They can just stand out there, take a photo, and then drift off to the next thing. It must be nice! I have taken it upon myself to sit in front of this son-of-a-gun for two hours to try to get every interesting angle of each eruption. They are all different, and it's unpredictable, so I have to wait for just the right one. There was a little snack shop about half an hour away, which I went to beforehand. I filled up my coat pockets with all kinds of chocolate-covered nuts... While sitting there between eruptions, I would get a little bored and eat these things. By the time this session was over, my body was in a caloric shock.